STR SHARE Center, USA
STR SHARE Center (Supporting Hotel-related Academic Research & Education) became THE-ICE’s first Business Alliance Partner in 2015. Launched in 2011 by STR Global, the STR SHARE Center provides higher education providers with large volumes of hotel and tourism data, as well as related resources for research, student projects, and use in the classroom.
STR Global (Smith Travel Research) has provided a benchmarking service to the hotel industry for three decades and, in addition to providing regular performance data to over 50,000 hotels, STR conducts regular presentations at international conferences and provides a variety of products and services to a wide range of organisations in the hotel industry.
The STR SHARE Center has over 530 member schools from 56 different countries who receive the following, in addition to the extensive hotel and tourism data:
- training programmes and materials;
- global industry articles and publications;
- webinars for faculty and students;
- speaker support for academics;
- regular educator newsletters; and
- access to educator forums connecting academia with industry.
To answer calls for an industry “stamp of approval” process, in 2012 the STR SHARE Center launched CHIA (Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics) which is offered jointly with ICHRIE, AH&LEI and STR.
CHIA has been designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as professors. Thousands of students have now achieved CHIA certification and over 600 professors have participated in the CHIA Train-the-Trainer (TTT) sessions worldwide. CHIA certification provides recognition of attaining a thorough knowledge of foundational data analytics and strategic benchmarking, essential in the industry today.
HIFIA (Hotel Industry Foundations and Introduction to Analytics) is the industry version of the certification that is now also offered to industry professionals.
CAHTA (Certification in Advanced Hospitality and Tourism Analytics) was launched in 2019 and is being offered by top schools around the world, with over 200 professors having attended TTT sessions. Built upon the CHIA foundation, the CAHTA provides comprehensive training on four popular hospitality and tourism research projects: a market study, an event impact analysis, an economic analysis, and a feasibility study. Students learn step-by-step procedures to conduct industry quality research and complete one of the projects, where they gain valuable experience analysing data and presenting their findings.
In addition to affiliation with THE-ICE, STR SHARE Center also partners with a wide range of academic support organisations including ICHRIE, TTRA, ISTTE, AHFME, iHITA, RevME, ARES, COHREP, GHE, KAHTEA, CHME, CHEI, AMFORHT, EUHOFA, HSoD, “La Fondacion” and the Institute of Hospitality.
Scheduled dates and details of upcoming STR SHARE Center Educator Workshops, events, and CHIA/ HIFIA/CAHTA Train-the Trainer Sessions in various international locations.
To register or find out more about upcoming sessions, please contact sharecenter@str.com.
Visit the STR SHARE Center website for further information